My belief on AR is that Ballard and Steichen wanted him. And Stechein soured on him because of his work habits. So you can certainly say that AR failed. However, they drafted probably the rawest QB ever and did jack shit to support him. He either needed to sit and watch and learn or he needed true veteran mentor. Not someone to compete against, someone who knew his role on the team was not to win games, but to teach AR how to be a professional QB. Those to me are the two valid ways to develop a QB who clearly isn’t ready. In typical Ballard fashion the team had no direction and did neither. He has said he doesn’t believe in veteran leadership he believes his coaches set the culture. That MAY work if you hire a hard nosed chew your ass type coach. Maybe. But it sure as fuck doesn’t work with the Reichs and Stechein analytical, Xs and Os type coaches. AR shares some blame in his failure, but the majority falls on the fucking grown men and supposed leaders that failed to provide him the structure and time he needed to succeed. AR is a symptom of the completely rotten culture Ballard has developed.
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